Snowstorm pushes snow geese to toxic pit

A flock of several thousand snow geese recently died after landing in an old toxic pit mine in Montana. About 25,000 birds took refuge in the former mine in the Butte area after a snowstorm in late November. Workers at the site that’s now submerged with extremely acidic water worked to chase the birds away using spotlights and noisemakers in order to prevent them from landing. Staff with Montana Resources, which manages the pit with the Atlantic Richfield Company, are still confirming the death toll numbers, but believe it is many times more than the last large snow geese death of 342 birds in 1995. Montana Resources says it is working on efforts to protect the birds from toxic water in the future. Read more in the Portland Press Herald.